THE ANTEDILUVIAN KINGS OF BEROSSUS AND
THE SUMERIAN DYNASTIC LIST
It may be of assistance to the reader to repeat in tabular form the
equivalents to the mythical kings of Berossus which are briefly
discussed in Lecture I. In the following table the two new equations,
obtained from the earliest section of the Sumerian Dynastic List, are in
upper-case.(1) The established equations to other names are in normal
case, while those for which we should possibly seek other equivalents
are enclosed within brackets.(2) Aruru has not been included as a
possible equivalent for {'Aloros}.(3)
1. {'Aloros}
2. {'Alaparos (? 'Adaparos)}, _Alaporus_, _Alapaurus_ (Adapa)
3. {'Amelon, 'Amillaros}, _Almelon_ (Amêlu)
4. {'Ammenon} ENMENUNNA
5. {Megalaros, Megalanos}, _Amegalarus_
6. {Daonos, Daos} ETANA
7. {Euedorakhos, Euedoreskhos}, _Edoranchus_ Enmeduranki
8. {'Amemphinos}, _Amemphsinus_ (Amêl-Sin)
9. {'Otiartes (? 'Opartes)} (Ubar-Tutu)
10. {Xisouthros, Sisouthros, Sisithros} Khasisatra, Atrakhasis(4)
(1) For the royal names of Berossus, see _Euseb. chron. lib.
pri._, ed. Schoene, cols. 7 f., 31 ff. The latinized
variants correspond to forms in the Armenian translation of
Eusebius.
(2) For the principal discussions of equivalents, see
Hommel, _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol. XV (1893), pp. 243
ff., and _Die altorientalischen Denkmäler und das Alte
Testament_ (1902), pp. 23 ff.; Zimmern, _Die Keilinschriften
und das Alte Testament_, 3rd ed. (1902), pp. 531 ff.; and
cf. Lenormant, _Les origines de l'histoire_, I (1880), pp.
214 ff. See also Driver, _Genesis_, 10th ed. (1916), p. 80
f.; Skinner, _Genesis_, p. 137 f.; Ball, _Genesis_, p. 50;
and Gordon, _Early Traditions of Genesis_, pp. 46 ff.
(3) There is a suggested equation of Lal-ur-alimma with
{'Aloros}.
(4) The hundred and twenty "sars", or 432,000 years assigned
by Berossus for the duration of the Antediluvian dynasty,
are distributed as follows among the ten kings; the numbers
are given below first in "sars", followed by their
equivalents in years within brackets: 1. Ten "sars"
(36,000); 2. Three (10,800); 3. Thirteen (46,800); 4. Twelve
(43,200); 5. Eighteen (64,800); 6. Ten (36,000); 7. Eighteen
(64,800); 8. Ten (36,000); 9. Eight (28,800); 10. Eighteen
(64,800).
For comparison with Berossus it may be useful to abstract from the
Sumerian Dynastic List the royal names occurring in the earliest
extant dynasties. They are given below with variant forms from
duplicate copies of the list, and against each is added the number of
years its owner is recorded to have ruled. The figures giving the
total duration of each dynasty, either in the summaries or under the
separate reigns, are sometimes not completely preserved; in such cases
an x is added to the total of the figures still legible. Except in
those cases referred to in the foot-notes, all the names are written
in the Sumerian lists without the determinative for "god".
KINGDOM OF KISH
(23 kings; 18,000 + x years, 3 months, 3 days)
. . .(1)
8. (. . .) 900(?) years
9. Galumum, Kalumum 900 "
10. Zugagib, Zugakib 830 "
11. Arpi, Arpiu, Arbum 720 "
12. Etana(2) 635 (or 625) years
13. Pili . . .(3) 410 years
14. Enmenunna, Enmennunna(4) 611 "
15. Melamkish 900 "
16. Barsalnunna 1,200 "
17. Mesza(. . .) (. . .) "
. . .(5)
22. . . . 900 years
23. . . . 625 "
KINGDOM OF EANNA (ERECH)(6)
(About 10-12 kings; 2,171 + x years)
1. Meskingasher 325 years
2. Enmerkar 420 "
3. Lugalbanda(7) 1,200 "
4. Dumuzi(8) (i.e. Tammuz) 100 "
5. Gishbilgames(9) (i.e. Gilgamesh) 126 (or 186) years
6. (. . .)lugal (. . .) years
. . .(10)
KINGDOM OF UR
(4 kings; 171 years)
1. Mesannipada 80 years
2. Meskiagnunna 30 "
3. Elu(. . .) 25 "
4. Balu(. . .) 36 "
KINGDOM OF AWAN
(3 kings; 356 years)
. . .(11)
(1) Gap of seven, or possibly eight, names.
(2) The name Etana is written in the lists with and without
the determinative for "god".
(3) The reading of the last sign in the name is unknown. A
variant form of the name possibly begins with Bali.
(4) This form is given on a fragment of a late Assyrian copy
of the list; cf. _Studies in Eastern History_, Vol. III, p.
143.
(5) Gap of four, or possibly three, names.
(6) Eanna was the great temple of Erech. In the Second
Column of the list "the kingdom" is recorded to have passed
from Kish to Eanna, but the latter name does not occur in
the summary.
(7) The name Lugalbanda is written in the lists with and
without the determinative for "god".
(8) The name Dumuzi is written in the list with the
determinative for "god".
(9) The name Gishbilgames is written in the list with the
determinative for "god".
(10) Gap of about four, five, or six kings.
(11) Wanting.
At this point a great gap occurs in our principal list. The names of
some of the missing "kingdoms" may be inferred from the summaries, but
their relative order is uncertain. Of two of them we know the duration,
a second Kingdom of Ur containing four kings and lasting for a hundred
and eight years, and another kingdom, the name of which is not
preserved, consisting of only one king who ruled for seven years. The
dynastic succession only again becomes assured with the opening of the
Dynastic chronicle published by Père Scheil and recently acquired by the
British Museum. It will be noted that with the Kingdom of Ur the
separate reigns last for decades and not hundreds of years each, so that
we here seem to approach genuine tradition, though the Kingdom of Awan
makes a partial reversion to myth so far as its duration is concerned.
The two suggested equations with Antediluvian kings of Berossus both
occur in the earliest Kingdom of Kish and lie well within the Sumerian
mythical period. The second of the rulers concerned, Enmenunna
(Ammenon), is placed in Sumerian tradition several thousand years before
the reputed succession of the gods Lugalbanda and Tammuz and of the
national hero Gilgamesh to the throne of Erech. In the first lecture
some remarkable points of general resemblance have already been pointed
out between Hebrew and Sumerian traditions of these early ages of the
world.